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Deceptive Advertising from Hennessy - not made in USA.

Moderator's Edit: Please see Tom Hennessy's response to this post (Post 40). Also be aware that as of 8 Sept this is the user's only post, but he has two other Hammock Forums usernames associated with the same IP address.

I contacted the good people at Hennessy the other day about some suspicious claims they were making about their hammocks being made in the USA. I had heard that all Hennessy hammocks are made in China with final processing and assembly in Canada. In case you don't know, the Federal Trade Commission is very concerned about companies that are deceptively making "Made in America" claims. And even if some of a products is made in the USA, it's not enough to claim "Made in USA" status.

Well, my worries were well founded. Hennessy admitted to me that they do not actually process or perform final assembly on any of their hammocks in the USA. Yet, they were claiming "Made in USA" status AND "Assembled in USA" status on at least two of their models. This is a direct violation of the FTCs Made in USA standard. It's my belief that Hennessy is deceiving the public so that it can sell to the US military who has an obligation to buy American goods. Check out this image from their site:

What is really scary is that the people at Hennessy said that "some" of a certain hammock model were made from start to finish in the USA, "but none of those are in stock right now." In other words, they were claiming that an item was made in the USA, but you couldn't actually order one of those right now, only the Chinese version.

So why is Hennessy so desperate to appear to be making American goods? Are they so ashamed of Canadian/Chinese products? I think its sad when a company is willing to be deceptive to compete with other companies. Here is another image from Hennessy's site showing the deceptive claim.

After I notified Hennessy about these deceptions, their site mysteriously changed overnight.

I never understood how anyone could patent a rectangular piece of fabric with hemmed edges and bug netting sewed on or a ridgeline (a piece of rope).

I maybe can understand the bottom entry being under a patent but that's stretching it in my opinion.

The made in the USA issue is just wrong. Funy how it dissapeared overnight. I wonder if it will effect the gov't contracts in anyway. Probably not.

Don't get me wrong, I'm completely for an open global market and if you can get it done cheaply in China, great. Don't be desceptive about it though..

hdbint
THIS IS NOT DIRECTED AT YOU THIS IS JMO AND I DO REALIZE THAT EVERYONE HAS ONE SO DON'T THINK I AM TRYING TO START ANY FIGHTS IT IS JUST THE FACT THAT THOSE VERY WORDS THAT PEOPLE USE LOOSELY AND VERY FREELY

GLOBAL MARKETING IS WHAT IS KILLING OUR COUNTRY AND SHOULD BE STOPPED AND THAT IS WHY AMERICAN PEOPLE DON'T HAVE JOBS MANY YEARS AGO OUR GOVERNMENT IN ACTED A BILL CALLED FREE TRADE WHICH WAS PUSHED HARD BY REPUBLICANS AND A DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT JAMMED IT THROUGH NOW WE HAVE FREE TRADE IN OVER 128 COUNTRY'S SOME OF WHICH DO NOT TRADE WITH US.

HOW IS IT THAT WE CAN AND DO ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN I WILL TELL YOU WHY IT'S BECAUSE SO MANY OF US WANT THINGS NOW WE ARE IN AN AGE WHERE WE HAVE TO HAVE EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW AND THE ONLY WAY TO DO THAT IS TO SEND IT TO OFF SHORE COUNTRY'S TO MAKE WHERE THEY USE CHEAP LABOR AND SOME TIMES USING SLAVE LABOR TO MAKE WHAT WE COULD MAKE HERE IN THE STATES.

IT USE TO BE THAT AN AMERICAN COULD GET A GOOD DOLLAR FOR A GOOD DAY'S WORK BUT THAT IS NOT THE CASE ANYMORE, WITH THE GOVERNMENT'S GIVING TAX BREAKS TO THOSE COMPANY'S WHO GO OVER SEA'S AND OFF SHORE IT IS NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE TO GET ANYTHING THAT IS MADE IN THE U.S. SURE I BELIEVE IN FAIR TRADE NOT FREE TRADE.

I THINK WE SHOULD BE TRADING WITH COUNTRY'S LIKE CANADA AND EUROPE BUT NOT WITH THE OTHERS THAT DO NOTHING FOR OUR ECONOMY OUR COUNTRY IS 18 TRILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT TO CHINA AND ONE OF THESE DAY THERE ARE GOING TO COLLECT ON US IF WE DON'T STOP THIS.

I WAS TAUGHT AT A VERY YOUNG AGE NOT TO SPEND MORE THAN I MAKE AND I HAVE TRIED TO LIVE BY THAT SURE I HAVE DONE JUST THE OPPOSITE BEFORE BUT I COULD NOT MAKE IT WORK FOR LONG SO WHY IS IT THAT OUR COUNTRY KEEPS DOING THIS SAME THING IS BEYOND ME.

NEXT TIME YOU GO TO BUY SOMETHING AND LOOK AT WHERE IT'S FROM YOU MIGHT RETHINK WHAT IT'S DOING TO OUR COUNTRY AND THE NEXT TIME SOMEONE WHO SAY SURE I DON'T MIND THAT COUNTRY'S LIKE CHINA DO BUSINESS WITH US AND THAT THEY DON'T MIND OUR COUNTRY DOING OUR BUSINESS IN OTHER COUNTRY YOU MIGHT TELL THEM TO LOOK WHAT IT HAS DONE TO US.

MOST OF US HAVE KIDS YOUNG AND OLD BUT WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN SAY 50 TO 100 YEARS FROM NOW WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE THE FREEDOM THAT THOSE BEFORE US WORKED SO HARD FOR US TO HAVE.

I AM GOING TO QUOTE A VERY GOOD AND DEAR FRIEND OF MINE HERE

" WHY SHOULD I CARE WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN 100 YRS FROM NOW I WONT BE HERE"

I RESPECT HIS OPINION BUT **** WITH ATTITUDES LIKE THAT ARE WHY THINGS ARE GOING TO POT

AND THE NEXT TIME SOMEONE SAY'S I DON'T MIND SPENDING MONEY IN OTHER COUNTRY'S YOU MIGHT TELL THEM THAT THEY ARE HURTING THE COUNTRY THEY SO PROUDLY LIVE IN.

AFTER SAYING ALL THIS I HAVE SET HERE AND THOUGHT LONG AND HARD ABOUT HITTING THE SUBMIT BUTTON BECAUSE I KNOW THAT SOME WILL BE OFFENDED BY THIS BUT IF I MAKE'S YOU ANGRY OR OFFENDED THAT MAYBE I HAVE DONE WHAT I SET OUT TO DO AND THAT IS TO MAKE YOU THINK, RIGHT OR WRONG I HAVE MADE YOU THINK.

AGAIN AS I STATED EARLIER I DO NOT WISH TO FIGHT ABOUT THIS AND IN FACT I WONT REPLY TO ANY OF IT BUT I WILL READ WHAT EVERYONE HAS TO SAY ABOUT IT AND TAKE IT TO HEART AND RESPECT YOU OPINION'S

hdbint
THIS IS NOT DIRECTED AT YOU THIS IS JMO AND I DO REALIZE THAT ...snip....
SUBMIT [/COLOR]

I'm butt hurt now....... Just kidding.

Cavediver, I'd bet you and I would get along great. Seriously.....

I agree with your ideaology whole heartedly and I do make a strong effort to buy products made in the USA for many of the reasons you state. However, that's a personal decision you and I have made and one I do not want the .gov to make for me.

Question: Why should the goverment be able to tell you or me who we can and cannot buy goods from?

If I can buy a product that is of equal quality for cheaper (obviously the consumer would have to decide on the quality issue), do you really want the government telling you, "Stop, you can't buy that from them. You have to buy the one that was made here for more money."

That's my understanding of what you're saying. You want the .gov telling us what we can and can't spend our hard earned money on. That doesn't sound like freedom to me. I don't want them involved in any of my money making/spending decisions. They have their hands in too many things as it is.

Unfortunatley, we are where we are today and that's a free global market.....with a ton of .gov imposed restrictions.

alas, if a company claims its product is made in USA that does not mean in the continental United States. Any product made in a colony of the USA such as Puerto Rico, Guam, or Marshall Islands or many other places can and will fall into the 'made in usa' category. It is also interesting many of the woodland camo garments advertised (for example) in Cabela's catalog (and website) as American (or USA) made are indeed made here in Tempe, Arizona, but by what I suspect are illegal mexican and central american immigrants. I found not one person out of 25 in that facility could speak any English, and though I dont want to make assumptions, is a dead give-away for something fishy. In other words, Cabela's is contracting a private company who hires illegal aliens to make your "made in USA" clothing. Barbara Walters should do a special (exept she don't care either!)

Seems to me that someone installed a bottom entry into a hammock without the use of any outside engineering or ideas. Who was that now? ummm... let me see.... oh yeah.. it was me...

I admit I have seen and I use a HH with the bottom entry but I took no measurements or technical data from the HH bottom entry for my BEEP. So I violated a patent? I don't think so.

I may be slow... But I sure am gimpy.

"Bless you child, when you set out to thread a needle don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold the needle still and poke the thread at it; that's the way a woman most always does, but a man always does t'other way."
Mrs. Loftus to Huck Finn